INTIMACY WITH
GOD JOURNAL
JANUARY 2011
*IOWA INTERSESSORY MAP UP AND RUNNING! SIGN UP NOW TO MARCH ACROSS IOWA WITH YOUR PRAYERS FOR REVIVAL IN THE LAND! QUAD STATE MEETINGS COMING TO AN AREA NEAR YOU! See the article: ‘A Call For An Army’
Opening Article: Clothed Properly
Mike and Linda Schreurs
In the above photo of Mike and I you can see that he’s in a winter coat and I am not. He had been playing in the snow with the grandkids and I’d gone out to take pictures when I asked a guest if she would quickly take our picture as well. It was very cold and snowy as you can see, and yes, I was freezing!
As I pondered the picture, I thought of how ill clothed many of us Christians really are. We think we’re properly ‘covered’ when maybe we’re not! In other words, we need to check to see if in fact we are truly covered in godly righteousness as Job 29:14 states. “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and turban.” We need Isaiah’s words as well: “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness…” (Isa. 61:10)
Can you truly say in your heart of heartsthat there is no blemish there? Can you truly confess with your lips, mind and spirit you are 100% committed to your divine and holy Savior, Jesus? Could there be any areas of your life of compromise, anger, unforgiveness or lukewarmness toward God that hinders a full blown, passionate, all out surrender to the King of kings?
Listen! At the start of every year many good intentioned people make new resolutions. But if they don’t rely on God above, if they don’t surrender all to Him, they’re already fighting a losing battle. No one can do it alone. It takes God’s power working within our hearts to change us. We are by nature clothed with unrighteousness through Adam and Eve’s horrendous fall from God’s grace. But the blood of Jesus bought it all back so we could walk in newness of life, strength and victory.
For 2011, let’s all put on the GARMENT OF PRAISE for the spirit of heaviness. (Isa. 61:3) Bring your bare and bleeding heart to the Divine Surgeon, Jesus Christ, and He will make all things new for you! He loves you beyond human measure! “…Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” (Eph. 4:23-24; 2 Cor. 5:17)
Linda Schreurs
REVIVAL FIRES COMING
TO IOWA
(& beyond)
A CALL FOR AN ARMY OF INTERCESSORS TO MARCH ACROSS IOWA!
ENLIST NOW!
“Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold an army with horses and chariot was circling the city.” {Put your city’s name there}
“And his servant said to him, ‘Alas, my master! What shall we do?’ So he {Elisha} answered, ‘Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Then Elisha prayed and said, ‘O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw, and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” 2 Kings 6:15-17.
IOWA, you are about to take back spiritual ground that has been lost! IOWA, you are about to be shaken to the core of your historical roots and know that the Lord Most High reigns in this place! IOWA you are about to know, see, hear, and experience Holy Spirit fire once again! There is no place for lukewarmness any longer. It’s fire power or no power! Passion for intimacy with God will drive you deeper into the Lord’s holy heart of love. Press Revelation 3:16 deep into your spirit when it says, “So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” It’s hot or not! Then take to heart what Zephaniah says in 1:12, “And it will come about that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit, who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good or evil!’” Stagnation in the churches must end. Stagnation in the followers of Christ must end. It’s not my words, it’s the Lord’s and He hasn’t minced its meaning! We are called to passionate intimacy with God that brings power and authority to our lives through His High and exalted Name.
IOWA get ready for the Lord’s mighty army of intercessors to march across this state with the holy Light of Christ. IOWA prepare to be revived to prosper under the Lord’s anointing and calling upon your lives!
This elite group of intercessors God is raising up are dread champions! They’re not afraid of the front line battles. They are forerunners! Is God calling YOU to this unique and anointed group who will commit to consistent and persistent prayer for your county? If so, sign up now by going to our web site: www.intimacy-with-God.com and click the tab: Iowa Map. Fill out the form and you’re set to go! Watch for updates as we begin the Quad State Tour this spring.
This is not about us or our ministry. This is about all of us under the canopy of God’s calling to seek and save that which is lost and to see revival in the heartland like no other!
Natural and Spiritual Shakings!
I well remember the first Statewide Worship War Room we held in late June of 2004. It was a powerful meeting! However, after I’d gone home that night I wondered if I had appeared foolish in prophesying a shaking in the heavens and earth over Iowa. Oh how the enemy loves to belittle and shame us in his diabolical attempts to cause doubt and fear in our hearts. Do not listen to his lies! (John 8:44)
Wonderfully, within a week while the 4th of July celebrations were going on, people’s gaze turned not to man’s display of fireworks, but to the MUCH MORE SPECTACULAR show of fireworks in the heavens! Many TV stations, photographers and newspapers, recorded the heavenly show. The one above (with my notes attached) is from the Des Moines Register. People were sitting on car tops (as shown above) mesmerized and amazed while gazing into God’s divine display of glory and power. It was heaven’s free billboard neon sign. The heavens were being shaken
Then… just days later on 7-16-04, at 7:17 AM, Iowa recorded its first earthquake in the little town of Riverton. Granted it was small at 3.3 on the Richter Scale but was felt for miles around even into neighboring states. Precisely! God’s glory and power that’s being released in this heartland state of Iowa will go far beyond its borders. The earth was being shaken! Keep in mind dear friends what 1 Corinthians 15:46 says: “However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.”
Sign posts
Did you catch that? Natural events come before spiritual ones. There sign posts. It’s as though they are the prologue for what’s about to happen. Do you know this? Do you pay attention to earthly circumstances around you? Do you know how to spiritually interpret or discern them? If so, you can learn how to directionally pray into a situation and most likely see results much sooner. This is where powerful intercessors make headway!
If you aren’t aware of how the natural precedes the spiritual, perhaps you should begin to learn now. It will help you grow deeper in your walk with God. Being constantly aware of our circumstances is likened to a soldier in Afghanistan or Iraq. They must be on alert at all times. We are spiritual soldiers and must do likewise. Jesus instructs us in Matthew 16:2-3, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?” So be sober, alert and diligent. Heed St. Peter’s admonition: “The end of all things is at and; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Pet. 4:7-8; See also 1 Pet. 1:13 and 5:8) That’s sound advice don’t you think?
No coincidences
Precious people,those shakings in the heavens and earth in 2004, were not co-incidences. Many of God’s people had just gathered from many counties across Iowa to enter into intense worship warfare for their families, their towns and counties where they live. And thus it was that God was pleased and those intercessory prayers of the saints shook heaven and earth. Also note the TIME of 7:17 AM in the 7th month and the town of RIVERton and the 3.3 magnitude. It’s now been seven years since those awesome displays in the natural. All these have prophetic meanings of which I won’t go into here, but I pray the Holy Spirit reveal them to you. These events were merely precursors for what is about to come. So watch out!
These kinds of things are happening all across Iowa and in America. I find it interesting that even this past fall on 10-17-10, the Des Moines Register’s Marathon race brought a record 7,777 participating runners. All these sevens are adding up for God’s perfect will to be done in Iowa. Wait and see, watch and see! The time is getting closer for a revival of epic portions.
Just this morning as I entered into prayer and was praying about this month’s IWG Journal, the Lord brought Habakkuk 2:1-3 to mind, especially a portion of verse 3 which says, “…though {the vision} tarries, wait for it; for it will surely come, it will not delay.” God has earmarked this state for a fresh revival! It will not delay. Now is the time as we mobilize for His Kingdom purposes.
Intercessors this is your time!
Intercessors, this is a time of fulfillment for all you’ve been praying for. Come and join the spiritual army that is arising and marching across Iowa to see God’s Kingdom come in power, glory, majesty, splendor and awe as lives are saved, healed and restored.
As many of you know, a few years ago, the Lord called us to pray at all 99 Iowa county courthouses. It was a powerful prophetic journey, one of which the Lord directed us to document in writing and in photos all that He was revealing. Thus the book He directed me to write called, Words Aptly Spoken. Just recently, Mike and I shared briefly at a Statehouse Prayer Dinner sponsored by KHOP. State legislators in attendance were each given a copy of this timely book! (See how to order your copy in the Announcement section of this Journal)
It truly is a spiritual, historical document for the intercessors of our generation and those to come. I call it a ‘coffee table’ book because it ought to be left out for you to grab hold of any time day or night to pray into fruition those promises. A number of years ago while in prayer I heard the Lord say, “Pray the prophecies.” I didn’t understand it at the time. Now I know!
Read it cover to cover to see how the power of God moved graciously throughout that ordained prophetic prayer journey. The book is about YOU! It’s about your life, your marriage, family, home, job, town, health and so much more. Now is the time to see the fulfillment of those utterances that were given. But they must be watered with intense prayer.
May the Lord put it upon the hearts of many prayer groups, churches and individuals to take this book to task and pray through each county. Cover Iowa (and America) with your love, your tears, your hopes and dreams for her by praying these revealed prophetic words. But even more so, pray the promises contained HIS BOOK, the Holy Bible! May you be blessed as you journey across the state of Iowa in directive prayer, just as we did during those 12 endearing months on the road. It will bring amazing results to your own life, home, career and well beyond those perimeters.
The encounter
Some who follow our ministry closely are aware of a profound encounter I had with the Lord on August 4th, 1996 that changed my life forever. It took me from lukewarmness to being ecstatically on fire for God and deeply impassioned with spiritual intimacy with Him. I want to share it quickly here to encourage you to continue to pray for your own dreams, visions and promises God has given you. What He says, He does! “So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” So says God. Amen. (Isa. 55:11)
Just yesterday I was listening to a CD by Rick Joyner where he states that scripture shows how when a promise is given, it may be years before its fulfillment; Abraham and Sarah being a prime example. In fact, he went so far to say that usually things will appear to be the opposite of what you were promised. It’s called the desert experience. I imagine you’ve been there yourself. Jesus was led into the desert to be tested. We will experience no less. But like Him, if we’re willing to surrender and obey at all costs, there is a huge reward. All that to say, even though this amazing encounter I had with the Lord was 14 years ago, and even as it has tarried, I KNOW IT’S COMING!
500,000 souls!
That particular day of the encounter with the Lord, I had driven to a place on the outskirts of town to check out a retreat place. On my way home it began to pour torrential, heavy, blinding rain over my car. It was a sunny day! This was odd, very odd. A few cars in my peripheral vision were also getting soaked to the point of pulling off the road while others didn’t seem to be getting the downpour as much and drove on.
At the precise moment the pounding rain began, I immediately began to sob giant sized tears and felt a great travail of spirit come over me. I pulled off to the side of the road. I didn’t know what was happening but could not control it.
Then, just as suddenly, I heard the audible voice of the Lord say: “Ask Me for 500,000 new souls for this area.” I couldn’t believe it! And yet the experience was as real as my hands typing this now. While in a somber state of shock, I answered, “Lord, did you say 500?” He said, “No.” I thought to myself that if I even heard of 500 people getting saved in the Des Moines area I’d be thrilled! I sheepishly asked, “Lord, did you say 5,000?” His response: “No.” I childishly went further in asking, “Did you say 50,000” as if bargaining with Him as I felt there was no way ‘in God’s blue heaven’ He could have asked me to pray for 500,000 new souls?! His response was tender, yet powerful in weight, “You heard correctly. Ask Me for 500,000 new souls for this area.”
That was it! That was the entire encounter. But it shook me to the very core of my being and I’ve not been the same since, nor do I want to be.
I then drove to a quiet lake area to ponder and pray about the encounter, feeling I could never tell anyone – EVER – about this because it was just off the charts! Isn’t God strangely wonderful in how He bypasses human thinking to get to our hearts? Hallelujah!
Confirmation
Nevertheless, I told my Beloved King that I would really need something from His Word to confirm what He’d just told me. As soon as I walked into the house after arriving back home, He dropped Joel 3:14 into my spirit. I rushed to find my Bible and find a quiet, intimate place to see what it said. I was shocked as it totally confirmed what He’d just spoken to me. To God be the glory! I felt a trembling in my spirit as I read: “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”
From then on and until the day I die, I will pray fervently and passionately to see those 500,000 new souls brought to Christ in Iowa. It is a red-hot, branding iron on my heart. My prayer has been that I live to see it, or at least to see its beginnings. Men, women and children of God, I truly believe we are now at that precipice. The Holy Spirit is responding as never before to our intercessory prayers for breakthroughs and victories in our lives. I want to prod you on to ASK of Him the desires of your heart. He encourages us to do so in His Breath from Matthew 7:7-8 which says, “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.” May the fear of God be upon all of us. We are entering astounding days of fulfillment.
Quad State Tour
I am confident that Iowa is in for heavenly, powerful things from the Throne Room of God. In light of that, our ministry now purposes to do as Paul did in Acts 15:36, “And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.’” On that profound, prophetic prayer journey across Iowa a few years ago, we were shown many extraordinary promises for this key Midwestern state. And just like Paul, the Lord is instructing us to return to see how the people of God are doing. We do receive emails from time to time of testimonies of fulfilled promises, which greatly encourages us and is heartwarming to say the least.
Now, the Lord is instructing us to go to each corner of the state (and center), and see the things which the Holy Spirit has done, is doing, and is about to do. Spiritual CPR is being released upon the heartland and beyond. Christ Performing Resuscitation is unfolding as we speak.
All the counties of each section will be gathered together for a one night power meeting in the Lord. There will be one meeting per month beginning in the spring with the conclusion in the center of the state in Des Moines by early autumn. In 2011, we are going from ‘victim’ to ‘victor’! Stay tuned!
Do you desire to partake of these holy fires from on High? Do you desire to see true justice and righteous decisions from our courts? Do you desire to see a powerful move of God once again in Iowa? Then enlist today in the Lord’s Elite Intercessory Army for your county at: www.intimacy-wtih-God.com and click on the Iowa Map Tab. (Some may prefer to write us at the address below. If so, please state the county your from and give all contact info.) We’ll be in touch! And may the Lord utterly and profoundly bless you!
ANNOUNCEMENTS